New Guy Checking in

[Serenity_]

New guy checking in

Been lurking for a while now. I am very new to sailing but I spend hours reading about it every week and finally scheduled an ASA 101 class to experience it and figure out if it is right for me which I am 99% sure it is.

I am the type of person who believes in researching before jumping into something so I figured I would get through at least ASA 103 before jumping into the purchase of a boat. I do have my eye on the Gemini 105 cats, probably an early '00 - '03 as I find them to have certain characteristics that appeal to me such as the interior space, flatness of travel and price range.

I am looking forward to learning more about sailing and in time, contributing to the forum when I become more aware and refined in the art of sailing.

I am 30 years old, a website designer and forum administrator by trade and looking to "automate" my business in the next year or 2 and pursue the dream of cruising the Bahamas for the winter months and eventually become proficient enough to circumnavigate. I have had many adventures in life to include traveling the world, fighting in the war, living in several countries over the course of 4 years, living....loving....and losing.

Thank you for your time and look forward to learning more and more about the art of sailing.

[Sabbatical II]

Hi Serenity and Welcome to the forum. You can learn heaps here. saling Couses are a great way to start. Good luck!

[Southern Star]

Hi Serenity and welcome to the forum! As a web designer/administrator you have a distinct advantage in terms of funding your cruising life while aboard and your approach does seem quite logical. You will find various threads here that will help with respect to your choice of boat and virtually any other question that may arise.

Here's to your future!

Brad

[Ocean Girl]

Thanks for your service and welcome to the forum.
Cheers,
Erika

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

Thanks for your service

He didn't say which side he was on....................

Yeah, welcome aboard Serenity

[Serenity_]

Originally Posted by Eleebana

Hi Serenity and Welcome to the forum. You can learn heaps here. saling Couses are a great way to start. Good luck!

Thanks for the welcome!

Originally Posted by Southern Star

Hi Serenity and welcome to the forum! As a web designer/administrator you have a distinct advantage in terms of funding your cruising life while aboard and your approach does seem quite logical. You will find various threads here that will help with respect to your choice of boat and virtually any other question that may arise.

Here's to your future!

Brad

Thanks Brad, from what I am figuring out it is quite possible with careful planning! I have 0 ties to the land other than my computer and my ridiculously expensive hobbies like cars which I am growing out of and the adventure appeals to me.

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

Thanks for your service and welcome to the forum.
Cheers,
Erika

Thank you Erika, it was the by far the greatest honor in my life to serve my country.

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

He didn't say which side he was on....................

Yeah, welcome aboard Serenity

lol, you never know these days I was an U.S. Army infantrymen for 5 years with back to back combat tours under my belt.

Thank you all for the welcome

[Serenity_]

Oh and I should give fair warning to all on the forum, I love posting smileys

[SeaBungalow]

We learned the same way, only been on 1 sailboat before we took an ASA "Learn-N-Cruise" course where we spent a week on a sailboat cruising and learning. We earned our ASA 101,103,104. Was a GREAT introduction to cruising!

To read about how we got started view our post on Cruisers Nation: How to start cruising | Cruiser's Nation

Cheers and welcome.

[TabbyCat]

I am 30 years old, a website designer and forum administrator by trade and looking to "automate" my business in the next year or 2 and pursue the dream of cruising the Bahamas for the winter months and eventually become proficient enough to circumnavigate.

You'll find lots of good advice on this forum about how to stay connected to the web while cruising. My job it requires a lot of bandwidth, but I've been able to manage it for 4 years of cruising, so I expect someone as techie as you can certainly make it work.

[Serenity_]

Thanks! I have done a little researching on low power consumption computers (probably go with a nano or pico itx setup) and a way to keep in contact. I noticed there is a forum vendor who sells marine wifi antennas however I don't know if that would suffice in keeping me in contact while cruising say....the bahamas. Everything else seems a bit expensive but I will keep researching.

[troymclure]

Howdy dave,

A pico ITX would be pretty nice, currently using an Asus culv laptop which is an overclocked ULV cpu. Power draw is pretty reasonable... though I have been looking into SBC solutions as well. Post up if you find anything.

ps:- Beagle boards use only 2 watts (but they are more designed for handheld/tablet devices as they have ARM CPU's).

[Adax]

Welcome to the forum Serenity. It ´s a great place to hang out while you are making your plans
And I so disapprove of posting smileys .....
The ones you posted shall be confiscated ......

Seriously though, they are great. May I borrow the pirate ship,please ?

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Thanks for your service. I retired Navy and used to tease my Infantry buddies (yes, I had a few) about how much they must like camping. They used to ask me about my cruise ship fun. My last ship was a Cruiser.
regards,

[Serenity_]

Originally Posted by troymclure

Howdy dave,

A pico ITX would be pretty nice, currently using an Asus culv laptop which is an overclocked ULV cpu. Power draw is pretty reasonable... though I have been looking into SBC solutions as well. Post up if you find anything.

ps:- Beagle boards use only 2 watts (but they are more designed for handheld/tablet devices as they have ARM CPU's).

2 watts! That would be fabulous. I will have to read up on them. I do need something that will run Photoshop which is a heavier program to run so I will have to keep that in mind. I will post the results of what I find when I do

Originally Posted by benardbert

Hi....serenity,
This forum had great information about sailling. I hope this will help you.


Thankyou,

Originally Posted by Adax

Welcome to the forum Serenity. It ´s a great place to hang out while you are making your plans
And I so disapprove of posting smileys .....
The ones you posted shall be confiscated ......

Seriously though, they are great. May I borrow the pirate ship,please ?

I found these on the net and are not copyrighted so have at it!

Originally Posted by SkiprJohn

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Thanks for your service. I retired Navy and used to tease my Infantry buddies (yes, I had a few) about how much they must like camping. They used to ask me about my cruise ship fun. My last ship was a Cruiser.
regards,

Oh the Navy jokes I have!

Thank you for your service also